Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat has made it to the next round of the Conservative's party leadership contest.

Mr Tugendhat secured 37 votes from his party colleagues, while Rishi Sunak came out on top with 88.

Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi failed to pass the 30 vote threshold.

Speaking before the results were announced Ashford MP Damian Green said: “This is one of the more difficult electorates in the world to predict.

"It's very likely that Rishi will be ahead in the first ballot today. But beyond that, everything is up for grabs.

"We all know how unpredictable these leadership races are. So there is absolutely everything to play for.”

Mr Green said his campaign was positive about the chances of Mr Tugendhat being on the final ballot.

There have been suggestions of ‘dirty tricks’ in the race, with MP Nadine Dorries claiming that the ex-Chancellor’s team was trying to engineer an outcome that would place Jeremy Hunt in the final two as he would be easier to beat.

Rehman Chishti, the MP for Gillingham and Rainham, was among the also-rans, after pulling out of the contest yesterday afternoon. He has now pledged his support to Mr Tugendhat.

Announcing his decision on Twitter, Mr Chishti said: "I am delighted to support @TomTugendhat to be the next leader of our Party and Prime Minister of our great country, in line with the vision & values I set out in my leadership campaign calling for a merit-based system of government based on aspirational conservatism."

Meanwhile, most of the county’s MPs appear to be keeping their voting intentions to themselves for the time being and no new backers have gone public overnight.

There will be further rounds of voting tomorrow.

Analysis from Paul Francis

In footballing terms, Tom Tugendhat is through to the group stage and in to the knockout stage.

His campaign team seemed confident that he would reach the threshold of 30 backers - the minimum to stay in the race - but tougher challenges lie ahead in the next round.

The strategy from this point will be to persuade other candidates who have been eliminated to transfer their support to him rather than from him to someone else.

Having eight candidates in the field has made for a cautionary approach.

In hustings, he has faced questions about his lack of experience - although a decade-long spell in the military seems adequate preparation for any government job.

For now, his focus will be on attracting support from those MPs whose favoured candidate is out of the contest.